Cloud computing— or at least cloud talk — in the federal sector has taken off, aided by the Office of Management and Budget’s cloud-first policy and the ever-shifting technological zeitgeist.
But questions about cloud security have managed to put the brakes on too much enthusiasm for some.
And, according to a recent Nextgov report, security is not the only cloud concern.
A host of other issues was given a thorough airing-out at a panel discussion this week sponsored by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association in Bethesda, Md.
Dawn Leaf, senior executive for cloud computing at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said interoperability and portability remain two big issues yet to be resolved. “We talk so much about security we sometimes forget those two,” she told Nextgov.
Overarching both of those issues is the larger issue is that of software licensing, which creates all sorts of complications for cloud applications, which are used in an on-demand basis.
Software licenses drew the ire of many of the panel’s attendees, Nextgov reported.
“I don’t want to buy licenses anymore,” said Alfred Rivera, who works with the Defense Information Systems Agency as its director of computing services. “Software is the second largest cost driver, and a lot of that is the licensing. I want the right to use it when I need it.”
